Hollywood Power and FWC Expertise Shine the Spotlight on Endometrial Cancer

Foundation for Women’s Cancer Chair, Ginger Gardner, MD, FACOG, is joining voices with Hollywood actress, director and women’s health activist Meagan Good (“Harlem”). Together, they’re taking on endometrial cancer as spokeswomen for the Spot Her campaign, which launched March 31 and runs through June 3, 2022.

“We have a lot to talk about here,” Dr. Gardner says. During campaign media appearances, Gardner dives into the statistics about endometrial cancer’s rising diagnosis and death rates and its disproportionate impact on women of color.

To date, nearly five million Americans have learned about endometrial cancer through Spot Her media coverage – Associated Press, Yahoo Finance, television stations from New York to Chicago, “TheGrio,” “Essence,” etc. – plus social media shares/tags.

“It’s been unbelievable!” Dr. Gardner says during a recent weekday “break” in her office at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and blue scrubs. “We delivered 21 back-to-back interviews on March 31, including radio, on-line and TV. We’re talking about symptoms of endometrial cancer, including vaginal bleeding on television. That’s not the norm, but it needs to be. It’s time that we raise the national discourse and awareness about gynecologic cancers because the opportunity for early diagnosis, effective treatment and advancing research for these diseases really matters.”

Meagan Good leverages her actress/advocate status and social-media star power to bring a personal perspective to “Spot Her.”

During the March 31 media sprint, Good discussed a pelvic exam during which her doctor found abnormal cells in her uterus. After doctors removed the abnormal cells, she has been able to stay clear of disease.

“My takeaway was the gift that I was seeing my gynecologist regularly,” Good shared during a recent interview with Popculture. “That my mother was encouraging me, that we were able to get in front of it and be proactive instead of reactive. And that is what I want for every woman.”

Dr. Gardner notes that FWC is active and fully committed to its three core pillars: Awareness, Education and Research for gynecologic cancers. For endometrial cancer, this includes significant grant funding to better understand the underlying biology of these tumors across a breadth of investigations as led by Society of Gynecologic Oncology members.

“As a medical community,” she explains, “we have learned a great deal about endometrial cancer, and yet we have so much work ahead to reduce the burden of this disease for all women, and particularly for women of color.”

Now, Dr. Gardner and Meagan Good hope that everyone following Spot Her will walk the walk for endometrial cancer awareness through the campaign’s virtual run/walk this Spring. For every mile logged by registered Spot Her participants, Eisai donates $1 between Facing our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE) and SHARE Cancer Support (up to $20 per walker/runner) to support patients with endometrial cancer.

For more information about endometrial cancer, visit the Foundation for Women’s Cancer website.